Tribals demand probe into exploitation of 2 women by C-60 commandos

Gadchiroli: Tribal rights activists met district collector ASR Naik on Monday, seeking his intervention into the police atrocities over last few weeks, including the latest alleged sexual exploitation of two women by C-60 commandos on January 20 at Todgatta forest.
The delegation comprising Sainu Gota, Ramdas Jarate and others also claimed in their representation to the collector that police had been relentlessly harassing tribals protesting mining projects across the district.
Citing examples, the delegation underlined the firing on some farm labours at Markanar in Bhamragarh tehsil, rounding up of several protesters from Etapalli, manhandling of 17 tribals in Dhanora taluka’s Gatta village and other such incidents. Naik assured the delegation he would act after seeking response on the allegations from the police department.
More than the police high-handedness, the tribal rights activists were vociferous about the alleged exploitation of two women from Jonawara village of Bande block in Chhattisgarh. They claimed that the commandos detained the women in the forest at night after intercepting them while they were on the way to Nayatola (also known as Murewada tola) near Murewada village in Etapalli taluka to meet relatives.
“One of the women belonged to Nayatola but was married in Jonawara. She and her friend were heading to meet a relative when police intercepted them,” said Jarate. “The police have also denied access to the women after admitting them to Gadchiroli civil hospital on Sunday, on the pretext of getting them medically examined. The cops have ensured they are kept in hospital for over 24 hours, though there is no need for it,” he said.
The activists claimed the women were kept separately by the commandos before they were disrobed and exploited in turns. Another person detained from the same forest was also kept in another room.
On January 21, the commandos had apparently taken the women to Murewada village, but no one could confirm their identity. Police claimed the married woman had said she was enrolled in a school, which no one in Nayatola was aware of, and no one knew her.
Later, the married woman’s relatives from Chhattisgarh came forward after the women were taken to Gatta police station. The cops allowed the women to go after giving them Rs100 each as travelling expense from Gatta police station. It was after they reached home that the allegations of sexual exploitation came forward.
The police have claimed that the two women and man were found under suspicious circumstances during a search after the encounter at Musparshi forest, where a Naxal camp was razed.
SP, Gadchiroli, Abhinav Deshmukh said the women were with their kin at the hospital, where they were thoroughly examined to rule out any kind assault on them. “The allegations are baseless and just propaganda by Naxal front organizations,” he said.
The C-60 commandos comprise local tribals inducted into the police force, trained in jungle warfare and guerrilla tactics to counter the Naxals. The first batch of 60, from where they take their name, was inducted in the 1980s.